General Discussion: Skulls

[ColdGlider]

Welcome to the SGP research topic for Halo CE Anniversary skulls.  Replies to this thread should:

a)  ONLY regard Skulls in Halo CE Anniversary
b)  NOT be about a specific skull.  For that, find the existing topic for the skull.  Check the "Index" topic for help.

Here is a perfect example of the kind of post that belongs in this thread:
Has anyone carried a skull through to the end of a level to see what happens?

[Imppa]

The BehindTheScenes video for the Anniversary displays the skulls as they look like in the skull menu. And as they say, there seem to be many new skulls in the repertoire.

While the total number has only increased in one, many of the skulls have been replaced or at least given a new look. 6 of the skulls (Iron, Fog, Mythic, Famine, GruntB-Party and Black eye) are instantly recognizable (with 3 of them confirmed in the video), and three of the surely new ones (Boom (replcaing the old Cowbell skull), Malfunction and Grunt Funeral) have been confirmed by the vid, resulting in a total of 6 confirmed skulls as of now.

This I find interesting:
In the past Halo games, the skulls have been not only a way to make the game more challenging, but a way to gain extra points to your level score trough multipliers. In Anniversary, however, such system does not seems to exist: All of the skulls displayed in the part of the video are all bear the same boneishly grey color, both in the actual Skulls and the symbols. There are also no multipliers or scoring on/off switch visible in any of the menus, and the video only states that

Skulls are one of the tools we're giving the player that if they do want to change the gameplay experience a little bit, they can do that.

While this is still to be confirmed, it is likely that the skulls do no longer affect the score. This would be a fitting answer to the other comment right before the one above:

How do we create something that alters gameplay, while one of our fundamental tenant is keeping the gameplay the same?

Answer: Make the skulls totally optional, and do not reward or overly encourage the use of them.
If you ask me, the whole Score system might even be gone, as there was none for Halo: CE in the first place!

Another interesting fact is that while the skulls should all be equal in Anniversary (in a way, at least), the skulls symbols are still divided by one aesthetic, that was used to differ Gold skulls from Silver skulls: The Rings. In earlier games, Gold skull symbols had had a ring (or more like an arc) around them, whereas Silver skulls didn't. In Anniversary, the Arcs might be more of nod to the direction of "That makes this harder" and "That's fun". But for now, it's merely one of the theories.


I have attached a picture of the Skull Menu in Anniversary, as it looked in the video. I will also post new threads for each of these skulls, giving a place to discuss and speculate about each of them.
EDIT: Now actually attached the pic.

LLtSGP!

[ColdGlider]

Imppa:  this was a wonderful post, in full lab jacket fashion.  Thanks for the links and the information, and for your work to create the individual topics for each skull!

We need to get the Index updated, though!  I'll check back later and see if I can assist with that.

>> 2011.10.20 03:42 UTC > Updating Index and skull topic names.  Numbering skulls from left-to-right, top-to-bottom based on BTS video footage.

[Imppa]

>>2011.10.20 11:10 UTC > Updated the symbols for the unconfirmed skulls, based on the BTS video.

[EnigmaBiz]

Halo CEA::Skull info::

Name: Iron
Desc: a hammer with a circle around it
Effect: Makes it so if you die in solo, level is restarted. If partner dies in co-op, revert to checkpoint

Name: mythic
Desc: A bunch of semi-circles around eachother, like a whirlpool. It's next to iron
Effect: All NPCs health allocation is doubled
Source: It's been in Halo 3 onward using this symbol


Name:
Desc: A question mark inside a circle
Effect: (conjecture) I highly suspect that this skull will be like 'malfunction', but it will activate a random skull every time you respawn from death. This is just a hunch, but it seems to make sense.
Source: Conjecture


Name: Recession
Desc: A revolver with one shot in it, inside a circle
Effect: All shots fired by the player take away two bullets/charges/whatever.
Source: A PoA playthrough in NYCC (Dan Ayoub himself told about this skull)


Name: Blackeye
Desc: Skull with only one eye (don't confuse this with the eyepatch one!)
Effect: To regenerate shields, player must melee enemies
Source: It's been in Halo 3 onward using this symbol


Name: Fog
Desc: It looks like a wave inside a circle
Effect: Disables player's HUD


Name: Famine
Desc: A skull inside a semi-circle with four dots under it
Effect: Weapons dropped by enemies have lower ammo


Name: Boom
Desc: A bunch of lines radiating out like an explosion
Effect: Doubles the damage radius of explosions


Name: Bandana
Desc: A skull wearing a bandana
Effect: Unlimited ammo
Source: A PoA playthrough at NYCC (Dan Ayoub himself told about this skull)


Name: Grunt Funeral
Desc: Grunt with Xed out eyes
Effect: A few seconds after death, grunts asplode
 pre-order bonus


Name: Grunt Birthday Party
Desc: A candle
Effect: upon a headshot death, grunts' heads blow up with confetti and a cheer
Source: It's been in every halo game besides CE, using this exact symbol


Name:
Desc: a piece of candy
Effect:
Source: N/A


Name:
Desc: Skull with eyepatch
Effect:
Source: N/A


Name: Malfunction
Desc: skull with lightening going down its forehead.
Effect: A random element of the player's HUD is disabled

[Imppa]

You have any kind of link to this "Dan Ayoub's" statement about these skulls?

[EnigmaBiz]

PoA playthrough in NYCC....he talks about it there...trying to find a video

[Lord Friendship]

Hey, just thought I'd drop off some stuff I saw on HBO here.

1. Shishka explains that the skulls will be difficult to reach, even if you know where they are, and will be progressively harder to find as you progress through the campaign.

2. Shishka gives three (well, two) hints about the skulls: no warthog launching required, and no suicide runs to get a skull.

3. Dan Ayoub says that the skull locations are even more evil than the terminals, which are evil.

[ColdGlider]

Thanks for the links- this is good stuff!